Meta's Own Chinese Ad Partner Ran 7,600+ Banned 'Nudify' App Ads, Report Reveals

The report found that the ads violated all three relevant Meta policies: the ban on advertising for apps that make "non-consensual intimate imagery" (nudify apps), the ban on ads with nudity or sexually suggestive content, and rules against inauthentic behavior (fake accounts) .

GatherOne's Role

GatherOne is not just any advertiser — it is one of only 11 officially authorized "top-tier" ad resellers in China, hand-picked by Meta. Because China bans Facebook and Instagram domestically, Chinese companies must go through these intermediaries to reach Meta's global audience .

The connection to GatherOne was established through disclosures in Meta's Ad Library: all ads came from accounts naming GatherOne as the advertiser and payer . The company reportedly generates more than 30,000 ads per month overall, which may help explain why Meta's enforcement systems did not fully dismantle the network .

How Meta and GatherOne Responded

Meta did not directly respond to TTP's questions but told Bloomberg it takes "aggressive steps" to combat nudify apps and said non-compliant advertisers face cancellation of ads, financial penalties, and termination of ad accounts . Cindy Southworth, Meta's Head of Women's Safety Policy, stated: "We do not allow non-consensual intimate imagery or nudify apps on our platform and we take aggressive steps to combat them" .

Notably, in June 2025 — just a month before the TTP report — Meta had filed a lawsuit against the creators of CrushAI nudify apps and announced new detection technology . The TTP report suggested those efforts did not stop ads from its own authorized partner.

After the report's publication, GatherOne told TTP it has suspended new ad account applications related to AI nudify, face swap, and girlfriend services. It also said it is "undertaking a comprehensive compliance upgrade to address the technical evolution of synthetic media" .

The Broader Context: China's Importance to Meta's Ad Revenue

The TTP report landed against a backdrop of Meta's deep financial reliance on Chinese advertisers. Key figures from the report and other investigations:

• Meta earned $18.35 billion from China in 2024, up from $13.69 billion in 2023 — roughly a tenth of Meta's total annual revenue .
• A December 2025 Reuters investigation, citing internal Meta documents, found that about 19% (over $3 billion) of that Chinese revenue came from ads for scams, illegal gambling, pornography, and other prohibited content .
• Analysts from MoffettNathanson projected Meta could lose $7 billion in Chinese ad revenue due to trade tariffs .

The TTP report characterized Meta's enforcement gap as part of a pattern: the company has been found to tolerate policy violations from its Chinese partners to protect a revenue stream worth billions .

The Take It Down Act

The report also arrives in the context of new federal legislation. The TAKE IT DOWN Act (Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act) was passed by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support (House vote 409–2) and signed into law by President Trump on May 19, 2025, as Public Law No. 119-12 .

The law prohibits the nonconsensual online publication of intimate visual depictions — both authentic and AI-generated — and requires online platforms to promptly remove such depictions upon receiving notice . The TTP report underscores that the law's framework, while now in effect, relies on platforms like Meta to self-enforce, and the report shows that enforcement gaps remain significant — especially when lucrative Chinese ad revenue is at stake.

Bottom Line

The TTP report revealed that Meta's own authorized Chinese ad partner, GatherOne, was responsible for thousands of banned nudify app ads. Meta's enforcement systems caught many of them only after the fact, and the company has not explained why it failed to dismantle the network sooner. GatherOne has since suspended new related accounts. The findings highlight the tension between Meta's policy commitments and its financial dependence on the Chinese ad market — which generated $18.35 billion in 2024, with nearly a fifth tied to policy-violating ads.